| Borough | Avg MPH |
|---|---|
| Bronx | 8.1 |
| Brooklyn | 7.8 |
| Manhattan | 5.9 |
| Queens | 9.5 |
| Staten Island | 16.0 |
Introduction
On Thursday September 8th, 2022 the New York City bus system carried over 1.5 million riders, more than the average daily ridership of Boston’s MBTA and the Bay Area’s BART combined. Despite being vital to the daily life of over a million New Yorkers, the bus system remains slow and unreliable. A 2017 report by the Comptroller’s office found the NYC bus system to be the slowest of 17 major urban bus systems surveyed. In June of 2022, the most recent month for which data is available from the MTA, 188 of the 219 local bus routes maintained average peak hour speeds of under 10mph.
The city’s bus riders are the most prominent example of a larger group of disadvantaged New Yorkers; those whose residence, work location, or disability status keeps them from using the subway system for the entirety of their commute. These commuters are forced to rely on city buses, unregistered $1 shuttles, Access-a-Rides, bicycles, or some combination of those and other commuting methods. If bus ridership is a reliable indicator for the group as a whole, they tend to live in transit deserts and be non-white and relatively lower income.